Fuel cells produce electricity by processing hydrogen or hydrocarbon-based teed, often a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide referred to as “syngas”. The syngas is produced by reforming hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas or diesel fuel. Reforming entails breaking the hydrocarbon chemical bonds, leaving a mixture of separate carbon-based molecules and hydrogen molecules. In any case, many fuel cell-based energy production systems use reformer assemblies to produce the syngas required as input to the fuel cell.
As understood in the present assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 7,818,969, incorporated herein by reference, the life and operational flexibility of fuel cells can be extended by providing only the hydrogen to the fuel cells, diverting the carbon-based products of the reformer assembly elsewhere, e.g., into a turbine or internal combustion energy. Such separation of the syngas components may be accomplished using membrane separation technology. Present principles are directed to a novel reformer assembly which both reforms hydrocarbon-based fuel and separates hydrogen from carbon-based constituents.